Driver training that’s engaging, interactive

and there’s masses of science behind it all that says it really does work.

It’s not just about training your drivers. It’s about safety. And having an easy driver-training solution that helps your company by teaching the right driving skills, in a way that sticks, and actually reduces your driving incidents.

That’s exactly where Fleetcoach comes in.

You want your company and fleet drivers to be safer on the road. With Fleetcoach, you can easily incorporate training into your Health & Safety plan and know you’re building a healthy driving culture. Based on more than 30 years of internationally published research, and designed around the way adults learn, Fleetcoach has helped lower driving incidents for companies in Australia and New Zealand.

So, how do we do it? Here's some of the science and psychology behind Fleetcoach.

Training the right driving skills

Our Head of Research is Dr. Robert B. Isler. He’s also an Associate Professor at the University of Waikato, and founding director of their world-renowned TARS (Traffic and Road Safety) Group.

He’s got decades of road safety research under his belt and has combined everything he’s researched, learned, seen, and discovered, into Fleetcoach. This means Fleetcoach drivers learn the right skills to be safer behind the wheel, and even transfer those skills to their everyday wellbeing.

Here are 8 key ways...

1. What makes a good driver?

When you think about if you’re agooddriver, what do you consider? The length of time you’ve been driving, or whether you drive a lot? If you’ve ever had an at-risk or a serious crash, or even any speeding tickets?

Science says that a good driver:

Is looking ahead and eye scanning,

Anticipates what happens next,

Is focused on only one task - safe driving,

Is prepared for different conditions,

Knows what they don’t know,

Is able to check in with themselves and determine if they’re ok to drive,

Understands that driving isn’t an exact science – it depends hugely on the human component.

2. It’s all about hazard perception

It’s been proven that it’s our ability to perceive hazards that’s directly related to crash risk (Horswill & McKenna, 2004). Risky drivers aren’t great at scanning for hazards, and that safer, more skilled drivers know to look well ahead of the car and keep their eyes moving. And a driver who is eye scanning effectively can spot a hazard early, and then choose the correct way to manage the risk.

And that’s exactly what drivers are coached to do throughout their Fleetcoach training with engaging, interactive videos.

Studies clearly show you don’t need to be in a car to learn these higher-level driving skills – effective visual search patterns can be transferred from being trained in a video simulation to being used while on the road in a real-life situation (Chapman, et al., 2002).

Training via video has several advantages – it’s cheaper, quicker, and of course much safer than on the road. Also, because drivers don’t have to think about the manual car handling skills such as steering and manoeuvering the car, they are left able to concentrate fully on the important task at hand – which is training their eye movements to search out risks and respond to them.

In short, training behind the computer screen is safer and works better than training in a car.

4. An overconfident driver is a risky driver

More than 80% of drivers over-estimate their driving skills – people think they’re much better than they actually are at driving!

This is incredibly dangerous: an overconfident driver will not be aware of the skills they are lacking and is likely to take more risks and drive less carefully (Kuiken & Twisk, 2001).

This is another reason Fleetcoach focuses on higher-level skills via video simulations rather than car handling skills. Manual driving skills are easy to learn, so practicing only these skills is a very common way for drivers to gain an overinflated sense of confidence.

Fleetcoach incorporates training on matching skill-level to confidence so that individuals can be more aware of the areas they need to work on.

5. Anyone can improve

That means that no matter what your skills are like behind the wheel, you can be a better, smoother, safer and more skilful driver.

Designed around how adults actually learn

How do we present the science so that people actually learn, and remember the material?

Our learning and content expert,Nadine Isler, is a Registered Psychologist with a background in Health Psychology and workplace interventions. She specialises in the areas of behavioural change and has spent many years working out how to teach new concepts in an interesting way - so they'll actually stick.

6. Coaching works better than instructing

Research shows that learners retain far more if they’re in control of their own learning, and are able to take responsibility for their development (Hermes, 2008).Coachingis the teaching approach that does exactly that.

Which makes logical sense: Are you more likely to be interested in something that is being dictated to you, or something you’ve got some choice in and can pursue in the manner you wish?

7. Flourishing drivers are safer drivers

Health and wellbeing don't sit in isolation from driving. The way people drive is directly related to how they live their lives – and how they do their work (Isler & Newland, 2017). If someone is an aggressive and risky driver, they’ll likely be like this in work and home life too.

That’s why it’s so important to look at overall factors and give good reasons to change behaviour. Fleetcoach covers a wide range of special driving topics such as distraction, fatigue, and speed. Every training provides practical strategies, rather than just abstract concepts. We encourage drivers to consider their own opinions, recognise their own signs, think about how decisions can affect themselves and their environment, and how we can all (us included!) make better decisions.

8. And, you learn better when you’re happy

There’s a whole discipline called Positive Psychology, which is about how we flourish when we introduce more positivity into our lives. Things like joy and amusement make you more relaxed and open, and more likely to be able to take in and recall new information.

And if we can make you smile, or even laugh – the facts will stick with you much longer!

[Fleetcoach] also got the thumbs up from our Learning & Development team as being one of the best examples of simulated learning they've seen.

Julie Barber, Safety and Wellbeing Specialist, Kiwibank

A bit about Fleetcoach

In 2010, Dr. Isler and a team from all over New Zealand set out to combat the country’s tragically high road toll, especially among young drivers. They developed eDrive, an online programme for learner drivers, in collaboration with the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). Today, eDrive is still teachingthousands of our young drivers essential higher-level driving skills as part of the AA Defensive Driving course.

In 2014, we launched Fleetcoach to help another at-risk group of drivers - those who drive for work. Fleetcoach is built on the same proven science as eDrive, and a partnership with the University of Waikato means we continue to incorporate the very latest road safety research.

Fast-forward to today, and Fleetcoach helps thousands of company and fleet drivers in Australia and New Zealand be safer when they’re on the road – and get home safe and sound at the end of the day.